From the Rolls-Royce experimental archive: a quarter of a million communications from Rolls-Royce, 1906 to 1960's. Documents from the Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation (SHRMF).
Page from 'The Autocar' magazine featuring various motoring-related articles, news, and cartoons from the wartime era.
| Identifier | ExFiles\Box 160\5\ scan0262 | |
| Date | 7th March 1941 | |
| March 7th, 1941 The Autocar 213 IN THE LONG RUN THE SWORD IS ALWAYS BEATEN BY THE MIND” NAPOLEON CONGRATULATIONS to Mr. W. F.{Mr Friese} Bates, founder and head of the well-known firm of Brooklands Motors of Bond Street, who was fifty on Monday. The staff, and those serving in the Forces, forty all told, got together and presented him with a silver tray containing all their signatures as a tribute of their affection. * * * Town Plans THE A.A. Road Book of England and Wales (price 10s. 6d. to members only) is well worth the money in peacetime, but in times like these it is worth its weight in gold if only for the town plans it contains. With the aid of these maps it is possible to find one’s way through the various towns on one’s route without the necessity of stopping, choosing an intelligent-looking pedestrian in lieu of a policeman and then enquiring the way. It is quite surprising the number of times I have been misdirected. On a recent journey of 200 miles I was twice misdirected; on one occasion I was sent 16 miles out of my way, and the other time it was eight miles farther. Besides being misdirected, I met several people who confessed complete ignorance of the way to a town only a few miles away. A number of these people were, I must admit, evacuees, but nevertheless you would think they would soon find their way around. [Cartoon of a family in a car asking a local for directions] Stranger in these parts. * * * Rest Hotel FRIENDS who have been sent away by the doctor for a period of rest tell me that they can recommend the Rolle Hotel at Budleigh Salterton, S. Devon, where everything seems to be ideal for people who have to go away. I thought the information might help someone. * * * The Late Albert Newton TO the long list I gave last week of veterans who have passed on, I must now add still another—Albert Newton, of the Ford Co. at Dagenham, who died in January. Newton originally became prominent in connection with the founding in this country of the Vacuum oil organisation, and was later with the British Motor Trading Corporation, until 1930, when he joined the Ford Company. A 13 “In him,” says the Ford Times, “died a downright, thorough Englishman, of whom it can truly be said that his heart was bigger than his head.” * * * From U.S.A. EACH evening (when I am not fire-watching) I tune in at 9.30 p.m. to Bolney Head, of the Christian Science Monitor, broadcasting from W.R.U.L. on the 25-metre band. I find his news quite the most interesting and unbiased of the many bulletins broadcast each day. Following his broadcast is “Friendship Bridge,” a programme of friendship from America to us over here. In this programme they frequently, every Tuesday I think it is, bring children evacuated to the U.S.A. to the microphone to speak to their mothers and fathers or, in cases where their mother has been evacuated, too, to their fathers only. [Cartoon of a boy speaking into a microphone] Brought to the microphone. I was highly amused the other evening by one small boy. He was bursting to speak to his father, and when his turn eventually came his big important message was: “Hullo, Daddy—Mother’s in the doghouse—she’s driven the Buick through the garage door.” * * * Salvage WHEN the Salvage Campaign first started I went through the garage and sorted out a number of things which I thought would do for the scrap heap. Some of the things I had been hoarding were articles which I used to take out of the garage every spring-time, and then, not liking to throw them away, put them back again. Things such as my first “G.B.” plate, an old worn belt from the last belt-drive motorcycle I owned, and a plug which a friend of mine invented and had manufactured. It was guaranteed not to “oil up.” I could never get mine even to fire at all! Then there were the baffle plates which Junior took out of the silencer of an early motorcycle he owned. With a strong will I took all these articles to the scrap-heap. I pass this heap daily on my way to the station, and I have seen my ‘treasures’ lie on it for some three months. I have seen them covered with snow and then come to view again as the snow has cleared. If the council doesn’t hurry up and take them away I shall pick up my “treasures” one by one and carry them home. App— [Cartoon of a man taking an item from a scrap heap] DUMP YOUR SCRAP HERE Treasures. * * * Know Your Car BEFORE the war a number of us considered ourselves mechanics if we tightened up a nut or two. Since cars have become lower and lower and wings bigger and deeper, we have fought shy of doing the real jobs, especially as the garage round the corner could do it so much better at such a reasonable price. Go to the garage round the corner to-day and you will find that if it hasn’t been taken over as an A.F.S. station, the repairs and service department is only running on quarter throttle because most of the men have left to do work of greater importance. So we now have to do things for ourselves, and I am afraid some of us need a refresher course to brighten up our knowledge. In other words, we should obtain a copy of Know Your Car, and then discover how much we do not know. This book is published by The Autocar at 2s. 6d., and is illustrated throughout with photographs. I was looking through it the other day for information on hub adjustment, and found it; without it I should have had to pay at least 10s. to someone else to do a job I soon did myself. Books of this nature and at about this price are always worth buying, for one is bound to find in them something which is worth the price, so I recommend that those about to get busy on the car should obtain it. I wonder how many owners of to-day know how to mend a puncture. That is one of the jobs we have been accustomed to leave to the garage round the corner and cheerfully paid 2s. for the convenience. But we can no longer drop a wheel in the garage in the morning and depend on it being ready when one returns at night. The chapter on mending a puncture alone is worth 2s. 6d. if one does not know how to do it properly. I was looking through the garage bills for 1939 the other day, and discovered that I could have saved at least £3 on silly little items had I done them myself. With Know Your Car at hand any duffer could have saved that £3. | ||